Andrew Goddard Most (but not all) evangelicals however have not been convinced that Scripture witnesses to same-sex relationships being something the church can affirm and bless, perhaps as a form of marriage. This new book by James V. Brownson, is the most thorough challenge yet to that view. Does he succeed?
A review of the Bishop of Buckingham’s new book on same-sex marriage.
The result of Scotland’s Independence Referendum on Thursday still looks too close to call. On Friday we will know and, whatever happens, things cannot and should not ever be the same again for Scotland or the rest of the United Kingdom. Whatever the outcome, three major challenges are already obvious.
As we approach the House of Lords’ debate on Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill, it is clear that there is a concerted attempt to undermine the church’s traditional opposition to laws enabling the killing of the suffering and dying. What follows offers the briefest of sketches of some of the main false steps in recent Christian arguments.
To encourage and enable commemoration of the First World War, the Liturgical Commission of the Church of England recently produced a number of resources. They raise an interesting issue for evangelical Anglicans – what do we think about praying for the dead?
“Can we engage better across our differences on sexuality?” seems to be a growing plea and close to the heart of the proposed Facilitated Conversations post-Pilling , yet relatively little has been written about this area so far. That gap is now filled by Wendy VanderWal-Gritter’s Generous Spaciousness: Responding to Gay Christians in the Church (Brazos Press).
The recent wedding of Jeremy Pemberton to his partner Laurence Cunnington and the plans of Andrew Cain to marry Stephen Foreshew clearly raise challenging questions for their bishops, the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion.
Sadly, but perhaps inevitably, Archbishop Justin’s excellent and wide-ranging LBC phone-in (transcript here and recording here) in which he talked about food banks, Jesus as defining who God is for us, poverty, church and politics, climate change has, in reporting, been almost wholly reduced to one short exchange responding to one of a number of … Continue Reading
The first part of this article defended the guidance against three prominent criticisms that have been made of it. This second part turns to highlight three areas of ambiguitiy, unclarity or inconsistency before concluding with some thoughts on the challenges we now face.
The divisions within the Church of England and the multiple challenges it faces in the light of the advent of same-sex marriage have become even clearer and more serious in the weeks since the House of Bishops Pastoral Guidance. In what follows I explore three areas where the bishops have been criticised and offer a … Continue Reading